The Scottish government has announced that the dualling of the A9 between Inverness and Perth has been delayed by 10 years, with an estimated completion date of 2035. Transport Secretary Mairi McAllan informed members of the Scottish Parliament that the project’s cost has also increased from an initial estimate of £3bn to £3.7bn.
The SNP had made a commitment to the project in 2011, but in February, the government declared that completing the project by 2025 was “unachievable.” Two sections of single carriageway amounting to 11 miles of road have been upgraded in the past ten years, and approximately 77 miles remain to be dualled.
Scottish officials have stated their continued commitment to making the A9 safer, and a program to upgrade remaining portions of the road is in the works. An inquiry by the Scottish Parliament has been examining the delays and has requested evidence from former first minister Nichola Sturgeon and current FM Humza Yousaf.
The A9, which runs almost 230 miles from the Highland coast to central Scotland, is among the busiest roads in Scotland. The area around the 1,315ft Slochd Summit south of Inverness is among the areas that present the most significant challenges to upgrading.
The Scottish government has earmarked almost £500m for improvements to the A9 in recent years, but the majority of the route is still a single carriageway. The first major revamps to the A9, which occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, included bypasses of more than a dozen towns and villages
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